Invisible Sparks
by Liberty Roth
Summary: Toph visits the South Pole with her friends, but has a little trouble adjusting. Total Tokka this one even more OOC than my other one. Oh well, it was cute to write...
1. Chapter 1

"It's too _cold_" Toph complained, loud enough for the entire small group to hear. They all ignored her; they had heard this fact about fifteen times since the air temperature had dropped below freezing.

The Earthbender was not happy at all. Well, okay, she was happy because the war was over and Aang had finally fulfilled his duties as the Avatar, but she wasn't happy that she had been blackmailed into coming to the South Pole. Katara had offered to drop Toph off at the Bei Fong home, which she had promptly refused, and had instead gotten herself dragged along with the other three teenagers to this frigid place.

"I said, 'It's too _cold_'!" Toph repeated, nudging the nearest person with her foot. That person happened to be Sokka, and he glared at her.

"Stop whining, it's not even that cold." He said, gripping the side of Appa's saddle as he peered over the edge of the great, furry bison.

"It is too. And I can't see anything." She whined, and then stopped. "Well. I mean, you know, with my feet."

Sokka sighed, and leaned back into the saddle. "There's nothing _to_ see, just water and icebergs and penguins and more water and more water and _more_ water and-"

"Okay, okay!" Toph grumbled, folding her arms over her chest. "But I'm still cold."

"Stop whining, Toph, we're all cold." This time it was a tired-sounding Katara who spoke, who was getting rather angry with Toph and her whining.

"No, you're not! You and Sokka have stupid furs to keep you warm and Arrow-Boy over there has fire-bending and – Oomph!" Toph was knocked flat as something heavy collided with her. After a moment of struggling, she sat up, and started to feel what someone had thrown at her.

It was a coat.

Sokka's coat.

Toph's cheeks alighted with a blush, and she tried to regain her normal personality, determined to not let anyone see her flush. "What the heck is this?" she asked, deciding to play stupid.

"Well, you wouldn't stop whining, so I figure you could have my coat for a while." Sokka said slowly, his voice a couple pitches higher than normal.

Toph slid the coat over her head, and the hood fell over her face. "It's a little big." She announced loudly, to cover up the awkwardness of the sudden silence that had come over the group. "I might get lost in here." A nervous laugh escaped from her lips.

"Here, Toph – " Sokka leaned over, and helped her get the coat on right. He pushed the hood down, letting her ears hear better. "Better?"

"Yeah, I think so." She said, although her hands were lost inside the sleeves. Apparently the thirteen-year-old had shorter arms than the sixteen-year-old Water Tribe boy had.

"Good." He said, settling back into his spot. Katara and Aang were grinning, a fact that made the warrior's ears blush.


	2. Chapter 2

**A note from the author: **So sorry I made y'all wait, I kind of forgot about this piece of fan fiction. :O Thanks for all the people who reviewed the first chapter, I love you guys now. X3

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. I wish I did, though. :P Then Aang and Katara would hurry up and get married, Toph and Sokka would have little bambinos, Zuko would angst over Katara, and Azula would die. I don't like Azula very much. :P

x-x-x-x

Awkward.

That was the single word that Toph Bei Fong could use to describe her ride to the South Pole. At first it wasn't awkard, no, she had just been complaining. No one had been paying attention to her, until she started to complain about the coldness.

Then it had happened. Bang. Just like that.

Sokka had given her his coat, a gesture that made her cheeks flare as red as the Fire Nation's insignia. It had been too long, though, because it hadn't been made to fit the thirteen-year-old Earth Kingdom girl. When Sokka had leaned over to help her find her way out of the huge tent, she could have sworn she had smelled something.

Icy, kind of. Brisk. Maybe just a little bit of sweat. It smelled like Sokka, a thought that made Toph's ears burn red when she recalled the scent.

"I see it, I see it!" someone yelled suddenly. It was obviously Katara, because she had the only female voice.

Beside Toph, Sokka stirred slightly. "I see it, too!" he called, relief flooding his voice. For a moment he had been thinking they had gotten lost somewhere above the icy waters of the South Pole.

"Me, too!" Toph called in a fake-cheery voice. "Hoo-rah."

"Toph, stop it," Katara called sternly. Usually Katara was patient with Toph and her sarcasm, but today she had experienced enough Toph as she could handle. Everyone had. "We see the South Pole. We're going to land, alright?"

"Yes!" this time the Earth Kingdom's excitement was sincere. She couldn't wait to plant her feet on firm ground, to be able to see where she was going and who was around her.

Aang laughed from his seat by Appa's head, and he flicked Appa's reins. "Where do you want Appa to land, you guys?"

"Anywhere. Just don't land on top of a tower," Sokka grumbled, settling back into his seat. He still hadn't forgiven Aang for destroying his watchtower.

Aang ignored Sokka, and instead talked to Katara, who was pointing out where to land. That left Toph and Sokka in an uncomfortable silence.

"_So_," Toph said, stretching out her arms in front of her. "Home sweet home, huh? You excited?"

He shrugged. "Sure. I haven't seen this place since I first met Aang."

"Really?"

"Really."

And that was how their conversation went on. Normally, Toph would have made more comments about the coldness and the dryness and the lack of ground, but she didn't this time. Her stomach was nervous, fluttering in a way it never had before.

Suddenly, a lurch that sent Toph crashing into Sokka's shoulder informed her they had landed. "Nice landing, Twinkletoes!" she yelled angrily at the Avatar. "Next time, why don't you just throw me over the side?"

"Okay," Aang said cheerfully, helping Katara dismount the flying bison. "That sounds fun."

Toph grumbled under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Toph?" It was Sokka again, his voice wavering for a moment.

"What?"

"Do you want to get off of Appa sometime today?" he suggested, poking her in the shoulder with his finger.

Toph shrugged, cheeks burning. "Maybe. If I feel like it." She said stubbornly. The two sat there for a minute or two, before the Earth Bender sighed. "Alright."

It took a couple minutes for Sokka to help Toph get onto the crunchy ice and snow mixture of the ground, she was being stubborn and uncooperative. After he had finally gotten her off of Appa, he tossed down their packs after that, the bare skin of his shoulders raising bumps of gooseflesh. One pack narrowly missed Toph's head, which made him laugh. It served her right.

Sokka slid down Appa's furry side, landing next to Toph. "Off we go," he announced, heading off in the direction of his home. After walking several yards, he turned around.

Toph wasn't following.

"Toph, come on. I know it's cold. But you have my coat, so you can't whine." He said with a sigh, heading back towards her.

"No, I'm not cold," she said, her voice quiet as she looked down at the ground.

Sokka poked her in the shoulder again. If Katara was there, she would have asked her what was wrong. But Sokka hadn't ever been good at the mushy-understanding thing. So he poked her. "Then what is it?"

"Sokka," she whispered, so quiet he could barely hear her. "I can't feel the ground!"

x-x-x-x

**Here's the deal: **I know you're all probably saying, 'Hey, what the heck was that?! I WANT TOKKA!!!' Well, hold your horses. It's coming. Just be patient and wait for the next chapter. Also, I apologize for any OOC in this chapter. ;


	3. Chapter 3

**Note from Liberty: **Thanks a lot for waiting patiently, and for all the good reviews of the last two chapters! I love you guys. Anyway, I promise you that this is going to be the best chapter yet. :)

--

Toph stood frozen, her hands out in front of her. She couldn't feel a thing! Her normal way of seeing wasn't working, her feet couldn't detect anything… It was like she was standing on air.

"Sokka," she whispered to the Water Tribe boy. "I can't feel the ground!"

Sokka stood there for a moment, his eyes wide. "What? What do you mean?"

Toph kicked snow in his direction, which caused her to tip off balance and topple back into Appa. "I mean I can't see anything! It's like I'm standing on nothing!" she turned around, gripping Appa's fur in her hands. "I'm going back home! I knew coming here was a bad idea!"

Appa groaned as the young lady started to climb clumsily up his side. "Mroooow," he protested, shaking his gigantic head.

"Toph!" Sokka called, jogging towards her. "Stop climbing, it will be okay."

"No, Sokka, it won't! How would _you _feel if someone suddenly tied a blindfold around your eyes? Huh? And then dumped you in some stupid, cold wasteland?!" she yelled at him, still climbing.

The young man reached up, grabbing her sides. He tugged on her, but she held fast, digging her fingers into the flying bison's thick fur. "Toph – let – go!" he muttered, and with one final tug, she came loose. Unfortunately, her sudden release sent Sokka tumbling backwards into a snow drift, Toph landing on top of him.

It was like time was frozen, with the two teenagers just laying there for a moment. Toph's hands were on his chest, from when she had tried to prepare herself for hitting the ground. But instead she had fallen on _him_. Sokka could see the individual lashes on her eyelids, he could have counted them if he wanted to. Her frosty breath spread across his face, making his eyes go wide in surprise. He was so close to her, he could smell the earthy scent of her… he closed his eyes, leaning in towards her…

And his lips collided with air.

Toph had moved, sitting up on the snow next to him instead of being on top of him. "Geez, Ponytail!" she grumbled, having no idea what Sokka had almost done. She sat with her arms crossed over her chest, her fingers impatiently tapping against her arm.

"S-Sorry," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "Well. Ready to go now?"

"No," she said flatly, standing up. Sokka did the same, his cheeks flushed red. "But what difference does that make? Just lead the way."

Sokka looked at her for a moment, his gaze lingering on her peachy lips. "Alright," he said, swallowing. How was he supposed to lead the way? He could just tell her where to go, but that wouldn't be too smart, he had never been good at giving directions.

"Alright." He said finally, and took a step closer to the Earth Kingdom girl. His hand slowly slid into hers, grasping it firmly. "Here we go."


	4. Chapter 4

**Note from Liberty: **Thank you all, again, for all of the wonderful reviews. I don't think I've received a single negative comment, and I truly appreciate that! I must be doing something right. :) After taking such a long break from writing Tokka, this was a little awkward to start off. So please give me some comments and tell me how much I was out of character. Love you guys! 33

--

_Sokka was holding her hand._

Toph's breath caught in her chest, and she felt her cheeks warm into a pinkish color. "Sokka," she began, licking her lips. They felt awfully dry. Maybe that was because her mouth was dry. "Why are you holding my hand?"

"How else am I supposed to get you across the ice?" Sokka asked, his voiced laced with fake annoyance. He couldn't let Toph know that he was actually enjoying this. "Don't worry, you won't have to hold it much longer, Toph. Our village is actually on _ground _instead of solid ice, so you'll be able to see…"

Toph's lips fell into a frown. So then she wouldn't be able to hold his hand. _Wait. _Then she wouldn't _have _to hold his hand. Yes, that was right. She didn't like to hold his hand, right? Because he was Sokka. He was loud and obnoxious and rude and… Oh, who was she fooling? That wasn't Sokka. Sokka was kind and funny and caring and brave…

"Okay," she said, shrugging her shoulders. The Earthbender tightened her grip on his hand, her cheeks still flushed.

Sokka stared at her in disbelief. "What? You're not arguing?"

Toph pursed her lips, and shook her head. "I said okay, Ponytail. Now get me to your village, would you?"

The Water Tribe Warrior smiled, and pulled his friend along, happily holding her hand.

The pair walked in silence. Silence was also the reaction when the two came into Aang and Katara's view. They were staring at them, not even bothering to mask their shock. Their mouths were open in twin O's as they oogled at their friends.

"Alright, Toph, we're here." Sokka announced quickly, and dropped her hand. The tips of his ears were bright red as he saw his grinning Gran Gran standing near his sister.

Toph felt some disappointment as her hand lost the warm contact of Sokka's. "Sokka," she said, biting her lip. "Are you sure your village was built on solid ground instead of solid _ice?_"

He shrugged, scratching his nose. "I think so. Why?"

The Earthbender took his hand in hers once again. "Because I still can't see," she whispered.

If only it were true.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for sticking with me so long. I'm not the most reliable person when it comes to updating. ' Heh. Anyway, you can expect a at least another chapter before I wrap this one up. This is one of those boring chapters, but you're gonna love the next one.

----

Part of Sokka wondered why she couldn't see, because he was pretty sure his village was built on solid ground. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to tether their towers into the ground. But who was he to contradict Toph? After all, she might not be able to feel the ground under all that snow…

He didn't really mind, though. Truthfully, he was ecstatic. Toph's hand was warm in his, and his red cheeks matched hers perfectly.

"Okay," he said slowly, and squeezed her hand momentarily. "I'll just get you to my grandma and she'll watch after you… okay?"

Toph wrinkled her nose. "I don't want to be stuck with some old lady!"

Sokka sighed. "Fine. You can come with me then, and help me fix that stupid tower… It hasn't been fixed since Aang ran into it…" he grumbled, and pulled her off in the direction of his tall snow tower.

Toph wasn't stumbling like she was before, and part of Sokka doubted that she couldn't see. _Maybe she's just getting better at walking without being able to see, though…_ he told himself doubtfully. Nobody could walk over the uneven, snowy ground that well. Even Sokka tripped now and then, and he had lived there most of his life. Plus he could see, while Toph couldn't.

If Toph could see or not, the two found themselves standing at the foot of Sokka's watch tower in no time. The village wasn't that big, after all.

"Impressive," Toph said with a low whistle as they halted suddenly.

Sokka smiled, his chest puffing out somewhat. "You think so? Thanks, it only took me – " And he caught on. Toph couldn't see the tower. He sighed, shaking his head. "Toph…"

The Earthbender replied by snickering, and dropped his hand. "Get to work. I'll be sitting here having fun watching you work."

Sokka felt his heart sink slightly in disappointment as his hand lost the contact of hers. "Okay." He grumbled, watching her plop down into the snowpile. He trudged up the slight incline to the base of his tower, and started reinforcing the damaged parts.


	6. Chapter 6

I've got some bad news for you guys… This is the last chapter I'm going to write. ( No worries, though, this isn't the last Tokka fanfic you'll read that was authored by me. This is just the end of thise ONE story, there are more coming. D Eventually, heh.

Thanks to all reviewers, people who PMed me, and everyone else who read this story. )

---

IPat, pat, pat./I

Toph could feel the vibrations go through the Earth below her as Sokka patted the cold snow into place on his tower. He was humming softly as he did so, but Toph couldn't figure out what song it was. She was sure she had heard it before. Her eyebrows were knitted together as she concentrated, trying to find out why the song sounded so familiar.

Sokka, on the other hand, was looking at the fistful of snow he had in his hand. It was round, because he had scooped it up from the ground in his cupped palm. His eyes were light with mischief, his lips were pulled into a smile as he looked towards Toph, then back at his snowball.

Then back to Toph, and then back to his snowball. This pattern repeated itself several times, before he finally decided to do what he had in mind. It was just too much fun to resist.

He pulled his arm back, aimed the snowball at Toph, and threw it at her. The snowball arced through the air, turning as it soared towards the coal black hair of the Earthbender.

And it missed.

Well, technically the snowball didn't miss. It was right on target. It would have hit Toph if she hadn't _moved _her head at the last second.

Before Sokka even had time to let his jaw drop, a flurry of snowballs was sent rocketing towards him. They all hit, burying the Water Tribe boy in cold snow. "Toph!" he groaned in annoyance, shaking snow from his hair. He headed down the uneven ground of the slope towards the girl.

"What?" Toph asked innocently, standing up and smiling. She could feel the vibrations go through the ground as Sokka stumbled clumsily down the snowy ground. As he was near the bottom of the small hill, the front of his boot caught on a chunk of ice that was partly buried underneath the deep snow.

They collided.

Sokka slammed into the Earthbender with enough force to knock the breath out of her chest for a moment. The two rolled down the rest of the hill together, their legs banging together uncomfortably. At the foot of the hill they just laid there for a moment, catching their breath side-by-side.

"What the heck was that, Ponytail?" Toph said irritably, but her cheeks were flushed just like Sokka's. "I thought you were in your element here. Can't you walk down a _hill _without hitting me for once? Do you like slamming into me or what?"

Sokka's face was very close to hers as he looked over at her, and he opened his mouth to say something. But he bit it back, thinking of something better to say.

"I do. I really do." He muttered under his breath quietly. He knew Toph would hear it with her sensitive ears.

Toph's eyes went wide, and her cheeks flushed a darker maroon color. "Wh-_what_?"

"I do, Toph. I like slamming into you. I liked it when I had to hold your hand. I like traveling with you. I liked you wearing my coat. I liked it, okay, Toph?" his voice was quiet, but not as quiet as it was before. He was slowly finding his voice.

Toph was speechless. "I… me too." She said quietly. Toph's ears could barely catch it, so she knew that Sokka couldn't. She cleared her throat, and spoke once more. "Me too, Sokka."

Sokka laughed with relief. He had been so afraid that Toph would have just blown him off. But she actually… she actually liked him back. His grin was almost too wide for his face. He leaned over to Toph, and kissed her.

Just like that.

"Hey, Toph?" he asked after he had finished kissing her.

She made a face, trying to look irritable and tough. But with her red cheeks, she couldn't look anything but adorable to Sokka. "_What_?"

"You can see, can't you?"

"Yeah, Sokka." She answered, and he kissed her again.

Just like that.


End file.
